


Nightmares and Dreams

by Steakinmyheart



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Dreams and Nightmares, F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-14
Updated: 2018-03-14
Packaged: 2019-03-31 06:14:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,642
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13969086
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Steakinmyheart/pseuds/Steakinmyheart
Summary: This oneshot takes place during Book 2 when the Gaang is on their way to Omashu to see king Boomie for Aang's earthbending training in the episode Cave of Lovers from Katara's pov kinda :)





	Nightmares and Dreams

“Aang, please! You can’t leave me!”

Katara woke with a start, sitting up in her sleeping bag. Tears were swelling in her eyes before she looked around her to see him sleeping peacefully a little bit away next to her brother, tightly wrapped. She smiled weakly to see them both so peaceful.

 Her nightmare had been a familiar one. Each time it involved Aang getting captured by prince Zuko and being killed in various, horrifying ways. Her breathing began to slow now, her eyelids became heavy again. It was not yet light out, so she figured she should try to get some more sleep.

Her nightmares had started when she and her brother Sokka had been sick and Aang had gone to look for medicine. He didn’t realize it, but he talked in his sleep and she had heard about some of the things he had seen; about Zuko with his dual swords and general Zhao locking him up. He had also mentioned a blue demon, but had never gone much into detail. Katara was so frightened by what she heard.

What would have happened if Aang hadn’t come back? Well that was obvious. They would be dead. What if that happened to Aang again, only next time he wasn’t so lucky? She shuddered to think about it. After her thoughts on this, the nightmares had ensued.

She now slid back down in her bag and pulled the blanket to her neck. How tired she was! They had been traveling for days through the forest. Appa was tired of flying, so Aang had decided they would walk a few days and give him time to regain his strength.

While Katara liked the change of pace, she wanted to hurry and get to their destination soon before they were tracked down by the Fire Nation. She was probably just being paranoid, but she couldn’t shake the realness of the danger within her dreams.

As she let herself slip back into sleep, Katara smiled faintly. It was pretty sweet how much Aang cared for his sky bison. While she was on that topic, he was pretty much the sweetest guy she knew and he was kinda cute when he told her that her hair looked nice or when he was playing with Appa…but he was still just a kid—even if he was 113 technically. Plus they were in the middle of a war. This was no time for silly fantasies. At least, she thought, none that anyone else needed to know about.

Her next dream was much more pleasant. She was back at the North Pole with her family. They were playing with the penguins and Aang was trying her technique of luring them with fish. It worked and he was mobbed by the hungry penguins. He shot out of the pile and went zooming down the hill on one of the penguins and he was laughing as he went. Katara smiled and hopped on one of the penguins still crowded around Aang’s fish and went chasing after him.

Catching up to Aang wasn’t too hard. She had much more practice than he had after all. She knew all the shortcuts and how to speed up faster by lying flat against her penguin while Aang just threw up his hands in the air and kept laughing.

 

When their penguins reached the bottom of the hill, they stood up and let the penguins waddle away. When they took in their surroundings, they beheld a beautiful ice cave in front of them, glistening blue in the sunlight. “Katara, have you ever been in here before?” Aang asked excitedly. She thought about it and replied “I don’t think so. Caves melt and form a lot so they’re always changing it seems.” As soon as she got these words out he grabbed her by the wrist and started pulling her in the cave. “Great! Then it’ll be new for both of us!”

As they looked around the inside of the cave, Katara couldn’t help admire its blue shine. It almost seemed like the whole ceiling was made from gems. “Have you ever seen anything such a beautiful blue?” she asked him as she spun around looking up. He looked at her and smiled softly and continued to observe her as she neared him. “Let me see…” he began. She looked at him and saw that he was staring at her as if very focused. “Aang, what is it?” she asked curiously. “I’m sorry Katara, but I’m afraid I have seen a more beautiful blue—even than this gorgeous place.” Her curiosity grew. “Where?” He grinned and stepped forward, moving a stray hair that had moved during Katara’s last spin from her face. “Well,” he blushed, “your eyes are the most stunning blue I’ve ever seen.” She met his grey eyes. She realized his hand was still resting on her face. She blushed. “Aang, I—” but she was cut off as he leaned up and kissed her.

She was in shock. Here she was in this beautiful place with the Avatar, and he was kissing her! He had planned for the kiss to be chaste, but her enthusiasm changed his mind. He had pulled away slightly only for her to recapture his lips. One kiss became two, then three, and so on until they were up against the wall of the cave. “Aang,” Katara said once they had finally ceased, “I don’t know what I’d do without you. You’ve been such an important part of my life. You gave me hope, and a best friend.” He smiled and slid down the wall and plopped onto the floor where she sat beside him. “Only a best friend?” He asked nervously. She looked at him and kissed his cheek. “What do you think?” she asked with one eyebrow raised. He smiled and wrapped his arms around his legs and pulled them to his body. “Katara,” he looked down. “Yes, Aang?” she smiled at him. “Katara?” his voice seemed fuzzy and distant now. “Aang, what is it?”

“Katara!” She shot up in her sleeping bag. Aang had been calling her name. It was now daybreak. She looked at him and saw concern on his face. _Wow. What a wake-up call! And what a dream!_ She thought to herself as she crawled out of her sleeping bag and began to get ready for the day. She found herself stealing glances at the young Avatar. That dream had seemed so real, and it was hard to forget kissing him—dream or not. She blushed slightly as she looked at the back of the arrow-headed boy but then shook her head. She needed to focus. They were on their way to Omashu. Aang was hoping King Boomy would teach him earth bending there and they still wanted to hurry so they would be ready to defeat the Firelord before Sozin’s comet returned.

After they had packed everything up and had walked most of the day, they came across a stream, which lead into a small pool. Aang still needed to practice water bending, so he and Katara took off their top layers so they could stay dry while Sokka relaxed, floating along on a giant leaf with Momo curled up on his head. She figured she had better have him work on an advanced move so it would take up all of their concentration. It was called the Octopus and required Aang to control eight arms of water simultaneously and use them to his advantage. He maneuvered them around him while Katara threw ice spears at him.

Not only did he manage to catch all her dangerous icicles with the arms of water, but he also was able to use one to snake its way around Katara’s ankle. When she felt the water wrap around her ankle, she knew he had won. She smiled and said, “You make an excellent octopus, pupil Aang. He smiled then moved his arms to bend water above his head in the shape of an octopus body and dance around, wiggling his arms as well as the arms of water as if he was indeed an octopus. Katara giggled. They stopped when they heard singing and instruments playing, however, and went to the water’s edge to see where it was coming from. Out from the forest emerged four people; two men and two women. The first man had funny hair and a headband and he was playing a small, stringed instrument while the second man was tapping a small drum that was around his neck.

They stopped playing and singing when they saw the children and the first man said “Hey, river people!” Katara looked confused and almost offended. “We’re not river people!” She said. He looked thoughtful for a moment before asking, “Well then what kind’a people are ya?” This time Aang answered. “Just…people.” And at this the man smiled. “Aren’t we all, brother?”

After some more conversation and Sokka having to use Momo to cover himself so he could go put his pants back on, the kids learned that these people were nomads…and not too bright. But they were nice enough. They were told about a secret passage into Omashu called the Cave of Lovers. Just the name was enough to make Katara blush. Apparently it was made by the first two earth benders who learned from badger moles, because their people were at war with each other. This cave was their meeting place. But supposedly it was cursed so that nobody could find them. “All you have to do is trust in love!” The first man said happily. But the kids weren’t too certain about that way because Appa hates being underground; that is, right up until they tried flying and were attacked by so many fire nation troops’ fireballs they couldn’t even see where they were going. They decided anything would be safer than trying that again.

As they reached the entrance of the cave, Aang looked at the nomadic man. “All you have to do is trust in love?” The man nodded. Aang looked at Katara and smiled. “We can do this.” Of course they ended up getting lost several times and Sokka announced that the tunnels were changing. They were attacked by a wolf bat which caused one of their torches to drop, hitting the ground near Appa and scaring him so badly that he crashed into the side of the cave, causing part of the tunnel to collapse. Aang saw that the ceiling was falling and that Katara was standing right underneath it, so he lunged at her, pushing her to safety. Unfortunately for Sokka, this separated the two plus Appa from him and the nomads. They said some of the dumbest stuff and he swore he was going to have a permanent red mark on his forehead from smacking himself there so often.

Meanwhile, Katara and Aang wandered on, hoping desperately to find an exit. They weren’t sure how much longer poor Appa could handle, and their torch was starting to flicker out. Soon, they came across a large circular door. They couldn’t open it, but when Appa saw what they were attempting, he charged the door, unsealing it and allowing it to roll open. Inside, however, was not the exit they were hoping for. It was a tomb, the tomb of the two lovers. Katara saw pictures near the coffins and read the story to Aang. The lovers names were Oma and Shu and they lived in neighboring villages which were at war. One day the man, Shu, did not meet Oma in their cave. She found out he had died in the war. She caused much destruction to both villages with her earth bending, but instead of wiping the people out, she declared the war over and together the villages created one large city name Omashu in honor of the two lovers.

After finishing this story, the two children turned their attention to the enormous statues against the wall. It was an image of two people kissing and an inscription below read, “Love is brightest in the dark.” Katara looked up at the statue for what seemed like hours, but in reality it was only a few minutes. What was it like to kiss? She wondered. Did it feel like it had in her dream? Had Aang ever kissed a girl before? Would he know? She found herself hoping not. She was frustrated. What was this stupid image supposed to tell them? She was trying hard not to make it dirty. Finally she had a thought. But it was stupid. She figured she might just throw it out there anyway. She really hoped this wouldn’t come back on her though.”I have an idea.” She said, immediately regretting her choice. Aang turned away from the statues to look at her. “What is it?” She turned away shyly. “Never mind. It’s stupid.” “Katara, please.” Aang said. Katara sighed. “It’s too crazy.” Aang huffed. “What?” She closed her eyes and took a deep breath to calm herself. “Well, the legend says we have to trust in love,” Aang nodded, “and then it has a picture of them kissing…” Aang looked at her suspiciously. “Where are you going with this?” Katara blushed. “Well, what if we kissed?”

Aang took a step back and stared into space. “Us, kissing?” he said in disbelief. Then as he heard it out loud he got a goofy grin on his face and muttered “us _kissing_ …” in a dreamy voice. Katara didn’t hear the last one and laughed embarrassed and said “yeah it’s a pretty crazy thought.”Aang laughed too and put his foot right in his mouth and said “Yeah, I definitely wouldn’t wanna kiss you,” before covering his mouth. But the damage was done. Katara liked the thought of them kissing, but if it was such a gross idea to him then screw it! After some arguing and Aang digging himself a deeper grave, Katara stormed on out of the tomb with Aang timidly following.

After a while they were still wandering the tunnels with their torch barely lit. Aang sighed. Katara had cooled off; maybe he would risk conversation. “It’s gonna burn out any minute, isn’t it.” Katara nodded sadly. “What do we do?” He asked in desperation. Katara sighed and shrugged as she and Aang both held onto their stump of a torch. “What can we do?” she asked. As their small light dimmed they seemed to be thinking the same thing and they leaned forward and closed their eyes as the light died. She saw nothing but she felt his breath on her face. Their noses touched. They were so close. But there was suddenly light coming in through her eyelids. She wanted to kiss him, but there were more important things at hand. She leaned her forehead against his momentarily and then opened her eyes. She exclaimed when she saw the ceiling of the cave was lit up with glowing green crystals.

She and Aang were still holding their burned out torch as well as each other’s hand as Katara exclaimed her theory. “That’s how they found each other! They just put out their lights and followed the crystals.” She gestured to the ceiling, releasing Aang’s hand. He smiled. “Come on!” She shouted, and started running the way the crystals lead. He had been about to ask her something, but he smiled and shook his head and ran after her with Appa close behind.

She wouldn’t soon forget what happened in that dark cave, but she needed to redirect her attention to the rest of the world. It was selfish for her to want him all to herself and Aang still needed to learn all the elements and defeat the firelord… maybe then they could be something more.

**Author's Note:**

> I loved this episode BUT I'M STILL MAD THEY DIDN'T KISS DURING IT D:<


End file.
